DETAILED ACTIONS
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/27/2026 has been entered.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim this application being in benefit of foreign priority from European Patent Application No. EP22169964.8 filed on April 26, 2022.
Drawings
The 9-page drawings filed 04/11/2023 and 3-page replacement drawings filed 08/28/2025 have been considered and placed on record in the file.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-3, 6, and 9-14 are pending. Claims 4-5 and 7-8 are canceled.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 03/27/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 6, and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nogimori et al., (US 2019/0325603 A1, published 10/24/2019), hereinafter referred to as Nogimori in view of Lisseman (US 2022/0203917 A1), hereinafter referred to as Lisseman.
Claim 1
Nogimori discloses computer implemented method (Nogimori, Fig. 5) for detecting an occupancy of a seat (Abstract, “A seated state detection device according to an embodiment includes a detection unit, a state determination unit, and an output unit.”) within a vehicle cabin (Nogimori, [0018], “FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a state in which part of a compartment of a vehicle is drawn in perspective, the vehicle equipped with a seated state detection device according to an embodiment.”), the method (Nogimori, Fig. 5) comprising:
- capturing, by means of an imaging device, an image of the vehicle cabin (Nogimori, [0038], “the seated state detection system includes a camera 24 as an imaging unit that images the seats 14a and 14b,”);
- identifying, by means of the processing device, a set of characteristics associated with a seat in the captured image (Nogimori, [0041], “FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of a mark 26 that is added to the seat 14 in the seated state detection device according to the first embodiment and the seat 14 to which the mark 26 is added. The mark 26 is preferably configured in a form of “line”, for example, from a viewpoint of easiness of detection. Examples of the mark 26 include a vertical line mark 26a extending in a vertical direction of the seat 14, a horizontal line mark 26b extending in a horizontal direction of the seat 14, a double horizontally long frame mark 26c, a double vertically long frame mark 26d, and a double square frame mark 26e that are obtained by combining the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b. The number of the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b may be one, or a plurality of vertical line marks 26a may be arranged in parallel, and a plurality of horizontal line marks 26b may be arranged in parallel. As described above, the seated state detection device according to the first embodiment detects the seated state based on the shielded state of the mark 26, so that when a plurality of lines are arranged as the mark 26, detection accuracy can be further improved as compared with a case of arranging one line, and a detection form can be increased by increasing a position (detection pattern) at which whether the mark is shielded is detected.”, [0068], “In the first embodiment described above, described is an example of determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated and estimating the physique and the seated posture thereof depending on whether the mark 26 can be detected by the camera 24 when visible light hits the mark 26 (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e, and the like) added to the backrest surface 14m or the headrest 14h of the seat 14, or when infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength are emitted from the camera 24 side. That is, the mark 26 in the first embodiment is an example of a passive type. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, described is an example of using an active-type mark 70 for determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated or estimating the physique and the seated posture of the occupant 60 (62). The following describes an example of using a light emitting element, preferably, an infrared light emitting element that outputs infrared rays as an example of the active-type mark 70”), wherein the set of characteristics (Nogimori, [0068], “In the first embodiment described above, described is an example of determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated and estimating the physique and the seated posture thereof depending on whether the mark 26 can be detected by the camera 24 when visible light hits the mark 26 (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e, and the like) added to the backrest surface 14m or the headrest 14h of the seat 14, or when infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength are emitted from the camera 24 side”) comprises a first characteristic, a second characteristic, a third characteristic, and a fourth characteristic defining the region associated with the seat (Nogimori, in Fig. 2, mark 26c can be used as the mark to define a region such as the headrest or backrest, each edge of the rectangle can count as first, second, third, and fourth characteristic);
- determining, by means of the processing device, a region associated with the identified seat based on the set of characteristics (Nogimori, [0042], “The mark 26 is added, for example, to a backrest surface 14m of the seat 14 constituted of the backrest surface 14m (back seat), a seat surface 14n, a headrest 14h, and the like. FIG. 2 illustrates an example in which the mark 26 is added to the backrest surface 14m. The mark 26 may be added to any position within the imaging range of the camera 24 to be shielded when the occupant is seated on the seat 14.”, [0048], “The detection unit 42 detects whether the mark 26 is shielded based on the taken image data acquired by the information acquisition unit 40”), wherein the region is configured to cover at least a portion of the seat (Nogimori, Fig. 8, the marks are associated with specific regions of the seat, such as the backrest and headrest, the mark can be replaced with the mark 26c shown in Fig. 2 which is a double horizontally long frame mark), wherein the third characteristic defines a first edge of the region and the fourth characteristic defines a second edge of the region, and wherein the first edge is parallel to the second edge (Nogimori, in Fig. 2, mark 26c can be used as the mark to define a region such as the headrest or backrest, each edge of the rectangle can count as first, second, third, and fourth characteristic, the left and right edge of the rectangle are parallel to each other); and
- determining a seat occupancy status of the seat by processing information obtained from the corresponding region (Nogimori, [0048], “The detection unit 42 detects whether the mark 26 is shielded based on the taken image data acquired by the information acquisition unit 40”, [0048], “In a case in which the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b added to the seat 14 are not shielded, for example, in a case in which the occupant is not seated, the detection unit 42 can detect the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b having a reference length (a length in the longitudinal direction of the mark 26 originally added to the seat 14). In contrast, in a case in which the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b are shielded by a certain object (for example, the occupant) present on the seat 14, the detection unit 42 cannot detect the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b. In a case in which part of the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b is shielded, the detection unit 42 can detect a length in the longitudinal direction of a portion of the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b that is not shielded”, as seen in Fig. 5, if the mark is shielded or not the occupancy of the seat is determined, [0081], “the first mark 54, the second mark 56, or the third mark 58, that is, the marks 26 (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e, and the like) in the first embodiment may be formed in a dot pattern of infrared light emitting elements arranged in an array.”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine each of the example embodiments of the prior art. All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the embodiments as claimed by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. Nogimori disclosed that the novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and can be variously omitted, replaced, and modified without departing from the gist of the invention (Nogimori, [0087]).
Nogimori does not explicitly disclose wherein the first characteristic is a seat belt mount of the seat and/or the second characteristic is a seat belt buckle of the seat.
However, Lisseman teaches wherein the first characteristic is a seat belt mount of the seat and the second characteristic is a seat belt buckle of the seat (Lisseman, [0066], “The components within a vehicle interior that may be detected and tracked according to the embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated in FIG. 8 and may include occupants 65A, 65B, 65C with one of the occupants being a child 65B. Other components that may be used for classification and monitoring include, but are not limited to, a seat belt retractor assembly (i.e., a spool that unwinds and re-winds the seat belt into a webbing payout section (44A, 44B, 44C)), a payout aperture (30A, 30B, 30C) through which a seat belt extends, a portion of a seat belt assembly configured as a shoulder strap (48A, 48B, 48C), a lap strap (36A, 36B, 36C), a lap belt anchor (32A, 32B, 32C), web length adjustment hardware, a buckle, buckle hardware, a seat belt tongue, at least one face (53A, 53B, 53C) of the seat belt buckle, and peripheral hardware used to install or enable the seat belt assembly functions (e.g. d-rings 45A, 45B, 45C, retention buttons, and the like”, [0066], “Monitoring and tracking seat belt positions can be part of occupant classification techniques”, occupant classification is analogous to seat occupancy status).
Nogimori and Lisseman are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicle seat occupancy. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method as taught by Nogimori to incorporate the teachings of Lisseman wherein the first characteristic is a seat belt mount of the seat and/or the second characteristic is a seat belt buckle of the seat. Such a modification is the result of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. The motivation for the proposed modification would have been to improve the safety performance of vehicle systems (Lisseman, [0048]).
Claim 2
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 1 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), wherein the seat occupancy status is determined (Nogimori, [0048], “The detection unit 42 detects whether the mark 26 is shielded based on the taken image data acquired by the information acquisition unit 40”, [0048], “In a case in which the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b added to the seat 14 are not shielded, for example, in a case in which the occupant is not seated, the detection unit 42 can detect the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b having a reference length (a length in the longitudinal direction of the mark 26 originally added to the seat 14). In contrast, in a case in which the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b are shielded by a certain object (for example, the occupant) present on the seat 14, the detection unit 42 cannot detect the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b. In a case in which part of the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b is shielded, the detection unit 42 can detect a length in the longitudinal direction of a portion of the vertical line mark 26a and the horizontal line mark 26b that is not shielded”, as seen in Fig. 5, if the mark is shielded or not the occupancy of the seat is determined) by comparing the information obtained from the corresponding region with reference information obtained from the corresponding region (Nogimori, [0050], “The state determination unit 44 determines the seated state of the seat 14 based on the shielded state of the mark 26 detected by the detection unit 42. For example, if all the marks 26 added to the seat 14 are detected without being shielded, it is determined that the occupant is not seated on the seat 14. In a case in which part of the mark 26 is detected (a case in which the mark 26 shorter than the reference length is detected), the state determination unit 44 can determine the physique or the seated posture of the occupant seated on the seat 14 in accordance with the position and the length of the mark 26 that is detected without being shielded”, the reference length is the reference information).
Claim 6
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 4 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), wherein the first characteristic defines a first corner of the region and the second characteristic defines a second corner of the region (Nogimori, [0068], “In the first embodiment described above, described is an example of determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated and estimating the physique and the seated posture thereof depending on whether the mark 26 can be detected by the camera 24 when visible light hits the mark 26 (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e, and the like) added to the backrest surface 14m or the headrest 14h of the seat 14, or when infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength are emitted from the camera 24 side. That is, the mark 26 in the first embodiment is an example of a passive type. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, described is an example of using an active-type mark 70 for determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated or estimating the physique and the seated posture of the occupant 60 (62). The following describes an example of using a light emitting element, preferably, an infrared light emitting element that outputs infrared rays as an example of the active-type mark 70.”, the first and second characteristic can be the active type mark in Fig. 15 where there are dots that define corners ); and wherein the first corner of the is diagonally opposite to the second corner (Nogimori, Fig. 15, top left mark 70a is diagonally opposite to bottom right mark 70b).
Claim 9
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 5 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), wherein the third characteristic is a top edge of the back rest of the seat and/or the fourth characteristic is a front edge of the bottom rest of the seat (Nogimori, [0068], “In the first embodiment described above, described is an example of determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated and estimating the physique and the seated posture thereof depending on whether the mark 26 can be detected by the camera 24 when visible light hits the mark 26 (26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e, and the like) added to the backrest surface 14m or the headrest 14h of the seat 14, or when infrared rays having a predetermined wavelength are emitted from the camera 24 side. That is, the mark 26 in the first embodiment is an example of a passive type. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, described is an example of using an active-type mark 70 for determining whether the occupant 60 (62) is seated or estimating the physique and the seated posture of the occupant 60 (62). The following describes an example of using a light emitting element, preferably, an infrared light emitting element that outputs infrared rays as an example of the active-type mark 70”).
Claim 10
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 4 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), the method further (Nogimori, Fig. 5) comprising:
- identifying, by means of the processing device, a sub-region based on the region (Nogimori, Fig. 7, 56a and 54a are subregions);
and
- determining, by means of the processing device, a type of occupancy of the seat
based on the first sub-region (Nogimori, [0059], “FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the small occupant 62 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture. In FIG. 7, the first mark 54 in the first detection region 54a added to the backrest surface 14m is completely shielded, and part of the second mark 56 in the second detection region 56a (for example, a center part) is partially shielded by a body 62a (a head part or a neck part) of the occupant 62. That is, the detection unit 42 does not detect the first mark 54, and detects the second mark 56 (horizontal line mark 26b) in a state of being divided into two parts, for example. In such a case, the state determination unit 44 determines that the small occupant 62 that cannot completely shield the second mark 56 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture.”).
Claim 11
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 10 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), the method further comprising:
- identifying, by means of the processing device, a second sub-region based on the region (Nogimori, Fig. 7, 56a and 54a are subregions); and
- determining, by means of the processing device, a type of occupancy of the seat based on the second sub-region (Nogimori, [0059], “FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the small occupant 62 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture. In FIG. 7, the first mark 54 in the first detection region 54a added to the backrest surface 14m is completely shielded, and part of the second mark 56 in the second detection region 56a (for example, a center part) is partially shielded by a body 62a (a head part or a neck part) of the occupant 62. That is, the detection unit 42 does not detect the first mark 54, and detects the second mark 56 (horizontal line mark 26b) in a state of being divided into two parts, for example. In such a case, the state determination unit 44 determines that the small occupant 62 that cannot completely shield the second mark 56 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture.”).
Claim 12
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 10 (Nogimori, Fig. 5), the method further comprising:
- identifying, by means of the processing device, a reference body point in the first sub-region (Nogimori, Fig. 7, 62a is the bodypoint); and
- determining, by means of the processing device, a type of occupancy of the seat based on the reference body point (Nogimori, [0059], “FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the small occupant 62 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture. In FIG. 7, the first mark 54 in the first detection region 54a added to the backrest surface 14m is completely shielded, and part of the second mark 56 in the second detection region 56a (for example, a center part) is partially shielded by a body 62a (a head part or a neck part) of the occupant 62. That is, the detection unit 42 does not detect the first mark 54, and detects the second mark 56 (horizontal line mark 26b) in a state of being divided into two parts, for example. In such a case, the state determination unit 44 determines that the small occupant 62 that cannot completely shield the second mark 56 is seated on the seat 14 in a normal posture.”).
Claim 13
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer system (Nogimori, Fig. 3), the computer system being configured to carry out the computer implemented method of claim 1 (Nogimori, Fig. 5).
Claim 14
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses non-transitory computer readable medium (Nogimori, Fig. 3, ROM 34, RAM 36, and SSD 38) comprising instructions for carrying out the computer implemented method of claim 1 (Nogimori, Fig. 5).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nogimori in view of Lisseman in further view of Pertsel et al., (US 10,953,850 B1, published 03/21/2021), hereinafter referred to as Pertsel.
Claim 3
The combination of Nogimori in view of Lisseman discloses computer implemented method according to claim 2 (Nogimori, Fig. 5).
Nogimori does not explicitly disclose wherein the reference information is obtained from at least one previously captured image.
However, Pertsel teaches wherein the reference information is obtained from at least one previously captured image (Pertsel, Col. 14, lines 24-32, “The video analytics may be configured to determine reference objects. For example, the CNN module 150 may be trained to recognize when a car seat is empty. In another example, the CNN module 150 may be configured to recognize when a child, person, pet and/or a type of inanimate object is present in the seat. Comparing the seat in the current video frame to a reference empty seat may enable the processors 106a-106n to detect the presence of occupants even if there is no motion by the occupants.”, In Fig. 4, the length of d_ref is compared to d_current to determine the occupancy of the seat, Nogimori also teaches comparing a length of a region in an image compared to a reference length, Pertsel teaches that the reference length is from a previous image).
Nogimori, Lisseman and Pertsel are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicle seat occupancy. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method as taught by Nogimori to incorporate the teachings of Pertsel wherein the reference information is obtained from at least one previously captured image. Such a modification is the result of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. The motivation for the proposed modification would have been to make the detection more accurate.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DENISE G ALFONSO whose telephone number is (571)272-1360. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 - 5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amandeep Saini can be reached at (571)272-3382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DENISE G ALFONSO/Examiner, Art Unit 2662
/AMANDEEP SAINI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2662
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